Author Description

This book explores a set of concepts that are fundamental for the management of Information Technology (IT) as a successful business. The ideas and concepts explored here have emerged from a ten-year collaboration between the authors in creating professional development programs to support and enhance the remarkable success of a particular IT company - the Information Systems (I/S) Division of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. However, the book is about more than one company's success. Anyone facing the challenge of managing an IT company, an IT unit, or IT projects of most any size will find ideas and concepts here that resonate with their experiences and that will provoke them to think in new and more productive ways about the work they do. The ideas are presented in four major parts. In the first part, the fundamental dual nature of software as both an art and science is described, and important implications and challenges that this duality presents for the management of IT are considered. The Information Technology Organizational System Design model (the IT-OSD model) is then introduced as a decision-making framework for implementing an evolutionary approach for the management of an IT organization in the face of these challenges. In the second part, a client-centric philosophy that leads to the development and nurturing of strategic client partnerships is introduced. Such strategic client relationships and a well-designed and well-managed system architecture provide the two cornerstones giving the IT organization the capability and flexibility to consistently deliver to its clients the value that supports their own competitive positions. In the third part, a unique organizational structure, called the Hierarchical Matrix, is introduced and explained. This structure is built on the nine fundamental processes that every IT organization must understand and utilize. Its crucial advantage is that it enables the IT organization to effectively and efficiently sy